WEYMOUTH – As the April 15 deadline for filing legislation nears, town-hired attorneys gave the Weymouth Town Council a look at the risks of a proposal designed to kick-start development at SouthField.

Though master developer Starwood Land Ventures LLC has threatened to leave the project if the legislation is not passed, lawyers from Burns & Levinson expressed concerns about moving forward.

“We’ve heard from several councilors tonight that there’s a view that what we have now is worse than what we would have if this legislation were to pass,” attorney Anatoly Darov said. “We don’t necessarily agree with that because we don’t think that the legislation, as structured, really has the right balance of equities.”

Darov and attorney Matthew Feher said the proposed legislation, which would slash authority of the project’s quasi-governmental overseer, South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp., could also weaken control over the project for Weymouth, Abington and Rockland.

By eliminating the air-base reuse plan that has been in place, the proposal paves the way for an “unknown development plan” potentially different from the one approved by the three towns, the lawyers said.

“There are a lot of unknowns, and we haven’t seen any details, so there is a risk,” Feher said.

Starwood wants the Legislature to, by the July 31 end of its formal session, act on sweeping changes that would, in addition to reducing Tri-Town’s authority, make the three towns responsible for public services on their sections of the former base in exchange for collecting property taxes.

Darov and Fehrer pointed out that the tax-collection responsibility could shift back to Tri-Town if the state does not amend the memorandum of agreement governing the development within 180 days of the legislation passing.

Some council members said taking no action on the proposal, leaving the project stalled for at least another year, would be worse.

“The risk of not doing anything is, I believe, far more calamitous to the town of Weymouth than any risk moving forward,” Councilor Brian McDonald said. “I believe the risks we’re talking about can be resolved later if this legislation gets filed.”

Matthew Barry, a Starwood vice president, called the law firm’s review of the proposed legislation “helpful.” He said he is hopeful that Weymouth’s lawyers will be able to meet with Starwood’s counsel in the coming week to address any uncertainties.

“A number of these questions and unknowns presented tonight could have been resolved had there been some phone calls or emails,” Barry said.